Mysore/Mysuru: Doctors play a major role in preventing prenatal sex determination and foeticide, opined District Health Officer (DHO) Dr. K.H. Prasad. He was speaking at the two-day Divisional-level Workshop on ‘Effective implementation of prohibition of prenatal sex determination law,’ organised by the Department of Health and Family Welfare at a private hotel in city recently.

Dr. Prasad said that it is very important to treat girl children just as boys and to see that the population of girls and boys are equal.

“People may come to doctors for prenatal sex determination and it is the duty of doctors to advice them against doing so and also explain them about the law to convince them,” he said and added that even the society and people should be aware of this and be responsible.

According to the recent survey, between 0 and 6 years, there are 946 girl children as against 1,000 boys. It is necessary to see that their numbers are equal for a healthy society, Dr. Prasad said and urged the doctors to co-operate for the effective implementation of the law in all districts and also to create awareness among the people about the evils of gender discrimination, which is also the responsibility of the society.

Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Deputy Director Dr. Vivek Dorai, Department of Health and Family Welfare Divisional Joint Director Dr. Rajeshwari and Reproductive and Child Health Officer (RCHO) Dr. Jayanth and Programme Officer Dr. Ravi were present. District Health Officers of eight districts participated in the workshop.